The Student Services Assessment Institute (SSAI): Creating a Culture of Assessment through Professional Development

1. The Student Services Assessment Institute (SSAI): Creating a Culture of Assessment through Professional Development Kim Black, Ph.D. Stephanie Torrez, M.A. University of Northern Colorado

2. Workshop Goals • Introduce Student Services Assessment Institute (SSAI) • Show how professional development model can be adapted to other institutions • Provide tips, strategies, and resources

3. Workshop Outcomes • Participants will be able to recognize institutional challenges and barriers to successful implementation as well as strengths that can be used to adapt the model to their campus. • Participants will be able to identify essential components of effective professional development on assessment. • Participants will develop a project outline for adapting the training model to their campus.

4. History • Needs Assessment • Self study and pilot study • What do you know about how assessment is being used in student services on your campus? • What information about how assessment is being used is missing, and how could you find it?

5. Student Services Assessment Institute • Support from campus leadership • Financial • Collaboration • Research and best practices • Cohort model (Joyce & Showers, 1996) • Hands-on participatory learning (Milstein & Krueger, 1997) • Curriculum design (Green, Jones, & Pascarell, 2003)

6. SSAI Model • Monthly 2-hour workshops • Topics range from developing outcomes to understanding survey methods • Instruction • In-house faculty and staff expertise • Assessment projects • Hands-on, supervisor approved

7. SSAI Model (cont.) • Individual consultations • Provided by assessment staff • Communication with supervisors • Face-to-face and via email • Videotaped sessions • CDs available for each session

8. Institutional Challenges • Budget • Organizational structure • Small assessment staff • Limited use and application of assessment

9. Institutional Strengths • Assessment and professional development offices • Understanding of campus needs • Support from leadership • In-house expertise • Partnerships • Passion for doing right by students

10. Small Group Discussion • What are some of the challenges you might encounter at your institution? • What are institutional strengths you can capitalize on?

11. Take 10

12. Essential Components • Curriculum & Pedagogy • Curricular Model • Program Delivery • Experiential Learning • Celebration & Recognition • Program Logistics • Cohort • Collaboration • Institutional Support • Structure • Budget

13. Take 10

14. SSAI Curriculum • Practical, applied knowledge • Organized around 4 questions • What do we need to know? • Why does it matter (the so what)? • Where can we find support? • How do we apply what we learned?

15. Sample Workshops • Workshop 1: Assessment Data: Collection, Interpretation, Utilization, and Dissemination • Workshop 2: Data-Driven Decision Making

16. Assessment Data • What do we need to know? • Types of data available • Demystifying use of data • When to use existing data and when to collect new data • How to decide what collection method to use

17. Assessment Data (cont.) • Why does it matter? • Garbage in, garbage out – good data is essential • Make it count – limited resources for collecting and analyzing data • Make your case – good data leads to good decision making for budgets, program sustainability, and student outcomes

18. Assessment Data (cont.) • Where can we find support? • Departmental resources (work study students, graduate assistants, in-house experts) • Institutional resources (institutional research, faculty experts, assessment staff) • External resources (research literature, professional associations)

19. Assessment Data (cont.) • How do we apply what we learned? • Exploring the data universe (individual and group activity) • Solving sample assessment questions (group activity) • Example – Why are participation rates in previously high-demand activities lower this year?

20. Data-Driven Decision Making • What do we need to know? • Types of data available • What people know/don’t know • Opportunities for sharing data • Strategies for making data meaningful

21. Data-Driven Decision Making (cont.) • Why does it matter? • Increases confidence in practice • Expands perspective • Informs big decision making/daily practice • Expands opportunities for collaboration • Promotes opportunities to discover the ‘so what?’ • Strategic planning

22. Data-Driven Decision Making (cont.) • Where can we find support? • Reporting units • Institutional Research • Institutional data • Other units on campus • National School Reform Faculty • Book: A Facilitator’s Book of Questions, by David Allen & Tina Blyth

23. Data-Driven Decision Making (cont.) • How do we apply what we learned? • Data Driven Dialogue • An activity that is valuable for making meaning of a large set of data. Need more than an hour to complete. • Nugget Exercise • An activity that uses sound bites of data to introduce the participants to reflective dialogue about the data. • Can be used during staff meetings as an opening or closing activity.

24. Workshop Session Ideas • Based on your campus needs and the characteristics of your cohort, what are some potential workshop topics you might consider? • Who on your campus could develop and deliver training on these topics?

25. Assessing the SSAI • Document analysis • Assessment projects • Participant focus group • Supervisor interviews • Program evaluations • Observations

26. How will you assess your training program?

27. Future Directions • Where UNC is going from here • Add new cohorts to attain critical mass • Introduce program review to student services programs • Position UNC for next regional accreditation

28. Contact Us Kim Black, Ph.D. Director of Assessment University of Northern Colorado Greeley, Colorado 80639 (970) 351-1102 kim.black@unco.edu Stephanie Torrez, M.A. Executive Director, Academic Support and Advising University of Northern Colorado Greeley, Colorado 80639 (970) 351-2812 stephanie.torrez@unco.edu